History of Lisbon

Hi incurable Travellers, After a refreshing night in the spacious room at the Grand Hotel Altis that overlooking the Tagus river we resume our travel story with a visit to Lisbon, accompanied by Elisa a friendly and prepared Italian tour guide that sometimes lives and works in Lisbon.

Our guided tour of Lisbon starts from Praca Louis de Camoes, that divides the area from Chiado square and the top of the Barrio, that is the heart of the city. This is one of the most important places for the Carnation Revolution of 1974, which brought the Portugal to be a democratic republic.

At the center of the square stands the statue of the famous epic Portuguese poet Luis de Camoes, who is considered the father of the Portuguese language.

Very special, though, it is what lies beneath the square, which is a large underground parking. During the construction of this park have emerged of Roman ruins, photographed and integrated into the existing structure, a sign that the Lisbon story begins in the mists of time.

Legend has it that the city of Lisbon was founded by Ulysses in his wanderings.

Ulysses arrived on the Portuguese coast where he met and fell in love with the Queen Ofiusa, creature half woman and half snake, and built a wonderful city, but Ulysses feels too strong the call of his homeland and decides to start tricking the Queen in a futile attempt to elongate the city to reach the sea, she died.

As a symbol of the effort made were the seven hills of Lisbon, drawn from the final contortions of the desperate queen of snakes.

History of Lisbon

Beyond the legends on the founding of the city of Lisbon in the Phoenician era, circa 1200 BC, and from 205 BC the Romans took possession of the territories and named it Felicitas Julia Olisipo, from this period are the remains of the Roman theater, in areas of the castle, and the thermal baths in the Baixa area.

The Romans were replaced by the Visigoths and then move Lisbon into the hand of the Moors in 716, which gave it the name of Olisibona from which over the centuries became Lisbon. The architectural references to Arab rule can be noticed in many tiled buildings with the famous azulejos and even taking a walk in the Alfama neighborhood, but more about that later.

The history of Lisbon continues with the reconquest by the Christians and the proclamation of the first king of Portugal in 1147 and in this century, the population grew and the old core of only 15 hectares proved insufficient, the development here outside medieval walls with an expansion growing.

The Portuguese kingdom was very prosperous thanks to travel overseas and colonies conquests until the nineteenth century, with the advent of the liberal ideas of the French Revolution and the rulers fleeing in Brazil, until the decline in 1822 when it was formed the first parliament.

The second half of the 800 and early ‘900 is a period of great innovation to Lisbon with the construction of stations and Sant’Apolonia Rossio, with the commissioning of public lighting department and with the construction of elevadores, of funiculars that allow you to spare ourselves the effort of steep hills to reach from one point to another city.

Elevador of Santa Justa

The most famous and tourist is the elevador of Santa Justa, which is actually a kind of public elevator wrought iron art nouveau connected to the square do Carmo from a walkway in the same style.

All these elevadores are chargeable and are part of public transportation in Lisbon, so they are free for those who have the Lisboacard.

Usually, there is always a small or long queue to take them, in particular, that of Santa Justa and I must confess that we could not resist this temptation very, very touristy.

I recommend you pay a lot of attention to purses and wallets in these situations, as it is one of the most popular places of thieves to pull off their shots!

Another little tip is, if you do not have the Lisboacard, never to do onboard for, as there is a much larger fine, but to arrange the tiles in prepaid points to access the use of public transport.

How to get there: The easiest and fastest way to reach Portugal is definitely the plane. We flew with the company TAP Portugal and we remind you that TAP Portugal flights from Rome, Milan, Bologna and Venice to Lisbon from € 114 a / r inclusive rate. All rates include a meal on board, a checked baggage max 23 kg + max 8 kg hand. Online check-in and mobile check-in from 72 hours up to 90 minutes before departure of the flight, with the boarding pass to print or show on your mobile device. Free app for info on flight and destination chosen and automatic notifications via e-mail and text messages on purchased flights. For promo and information www.flytap.com